‘Reckless’: US says Russian warplane caused drone crash over Black Sea
- US says MQ-9 spy drone was operating in international airspace when it was ‘intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft’, resulting in crash of drone
- Russia’s ambassador to Washington said the incident was a provocation, but that Moscow did not want confrontation with the US
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US military blames ‘reckless’ Russian aircraft for causing US drone crash over Black Sea
The US military’s European Command reported that a Russian Su-27 fighter aircraft collided with an American MQ-9 drone and made it crash into the Black Sea, a “reckless” move that prompted the State Department to summon the Kremlin’s ambassador.
Two Su-27s intercepted the American spy drone and one of them struck the drone’s propeller, according to the announcement on Tuesday. The Russian planes dumped fuel on the MQ-9 repeatedly, possibly trying to disable it, and flew in front of it just before the collision at 7.03am, it added.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, announced.
“In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”
Russia’s defence ministry rejected the US military’s version of events, denying it caused the drone to crash.